Monday, September 26, 2016

"This amazing two disc set chronicles the genius of Frank Zappa as a world class writer and performer. This is the classicline up featuring the band which recorded the legendary Live In New York album, performing an array of the eclectic hitswhich made Zappa a cult superstar. This powerful collection of rare and previously unreleased broadcasts by Zappa includes numbers from the famous Saturday Night Live slot in December 1976 and the highlights of two separate concerts in 1977 and 1981, as performed live for FM radio from the New York Palladium and the Ritz theatre. All performances were live to air without a safety net and form essential listening for every Zappa fan.Disc 1 Highlights From Saturday Night Live 1976 and the Palladium 1977.Disc 2 Highlights From the Ritz Theatre 1981."

I would like to take this opportunity to deny that all of the tracks on the Cordelia Records CD "Well, That About Wraps It Up For The Sea" (which is the subject for this kickstarter project) were recorded entirely by myself and not by the bands listed on the cover. Furthermore, I did not invent all of those bands, and the genre "experimental surf music" is not a figment of my imagination. Also the sleeve notes for the CD, however amusing, are not just some preposterous nonsense which is there purely to "put you off the scent".

The Grandsheiks play the music of Frank Zappa, and they're pretty damn good at it.
"Prisoners" will bring you a video recording of last year's Grandsheiks Halloween concert.
For me, the gig started with a nice surprise as the band featured Werner Neumann on the guitar.
Werner Neumann is an extraordinary guitar player. He's part of Drei Vom Rhein and also performs with Stefan Hüfner's Zappata project.

The Grandsheiks

Daniel Guggenheim: sax, keyboards

Jörg 'Doc' Heuser: guitar, vocals

Maximilian Hilbrand: lead vocals

Christian Majdecki: drums

Andi Mertens: bass, vocals

Werner Neumann: guitar, vocals

Furthermore, the band was enlarged with The Horny Hornz quartet,
AND with the one and only Napoleon Murphy Brock.

Incredible musicians and a great set of tunes. What else do you need?
An amazing recording.
Superb !

Second release on the TOOK sub-label, created by Charles Bobuck and Klanggalerie to release various Charles Bobuck projects.This limited edition (300 copies) mini-album could only be bought together with "The Swords Of Slidell". It presents four tracks : one coverversions of 'Later Tonight' (Pet Shop Boys), a Charles Bobuck tune called 'Stones In My Passway' and two tracks from the upcoming "Charles Bobuck Plays The Residents" album, 'The Sleeper' and 'The Whispering Boys'. Wow !!

Charles Bobuck and the Klanggalerie record label have created a sub-label to release various Charles Bobuck projects. This sub-label is called TOOK and "The Swords Of Slidell" is the first album on TOOK. It's the soundtrack to an i-book that was written by Hardy Fox.

Skin Graft Records is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a very fine release : a new album by Lovely Little Girls (and not Lonely Little Girls as you might think after seeing the record cover).

"Glistening Vivid Splash" is the second album by the Lovely Little Girls, a nine-piece progressive rock / avant-garde jazz band from Chicago.
Adventurous rhythms, beautiful compositions and funny (in words and sounds).

I love it.Progressive rock and avant-garde jazz. The perfect combination.

There's a bit of Magma in there, and maybe a bit of Residents as well, but it's definitely Lovely Little Girls.

Roma Amor is Euski (vocals, guitar, synth, drum machine) and Candela (accordion, bass, korg monotron, samples).
Discogs tells me that Roma Amor has released five albums. All but one have been released on the Old Europe Cafe record label.
"On The Wire" was the duo/trio's fourth album. The only one that got released by Klanggalerie.

Fans of French cabaret chansons (but they do sing in English and in Italian !!) will love this. It makes sense that their other albums got released on a label called Old Europe Cafe, as this is exactly how they sound.

Perfect music to enjoy an evening after a sunny day.

11 tracks, most of them originals, but also an exceptional coverversion of Bowie/Eno''s 'Deranged'.

After a tumultuous few months,since the last tour,the squeaky new version of ZAPPATiKA has now been finalized and is,may i say, as sharp as a razor, as tight as... a nut and as much fun as a barrel full of chimpanzees on amphetamines -(Possibly due to all the Italian influence);-)The new ZAPPATiKA line up is :Mr Jeff Hollie (USA) -(Saxophone & Vocals)Mr Zap Mcinnes (UK) - (Guitar & Vocals)Mr Hieronymus van Dam (NL)- (Synth,Vocals,Percussion,Keys)Mr Diego Mocci (ITA) - (Drums)Mr Joep Oosterbaan (NL) - (Bass guitar)and two new additions ...Mr Emile Chill (USA) - (Guitar & Vocals)andMr Osman Meyredi (ITA) - (Keyboards & Vocals)The band will start touring again from the end of October 2016 and will produce a new Studio album through the coming Winter.. The latest live album :Welcome to the Starlight Lounge" (featuring Ike Willis) has just been released and is available at online stores.

This is the soundtrack for the "Nieuwzwart" theater/dance piece by choreographer Wim Vandekeybus, performed by Ultima Vez.
It's from 2009 but I only picked it up recently.
Written by Mauro Pawlowski and performed by Mauro and his Nieuwzwart cohorts (Elko Blijweert, Jeroen Stevens,...)Energetic guitar riffs. Dark. Great listening.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

The three new Sun Ra 10" albums that recently got released by Modern Harmonic can be ordered from Sundazed in a package that also includes this NRBQ "Interstellar" 10" mini-album.
At first I thought that "Interstellar" had been re-issued, as it was originally released in 2003, but I was wrong. Anyway, it was a fine deal from Sundazed to include this album from the New Rhythm and Blues Quintet in the package. It sounds great.Info has been added to the United Mutations Archives.

Looking for a bit of extra info on NRBQ, I learned that they also made music for The Simpsons...But they also know how to rock !!Here's 'I Got A Rocket In My Pocket':

Number three of three, "Nuclear War" is the latest installment in Modern Harmonic's recent series of Sun Ra 10" releases.
Again, three astonishing tracks in a beautiful package. (artwork by Ian Schoenherr)

Hello pals! Beyond its easy availability from all of us here at Exowax in the USA, Scambot 2 has begun its wide release and will soon be showing up at Burning Shed in the UK and iTunes, and has already appeared at Amazon.

To honor these glorious developments, I now offer the final installment of the ongoing Scambot 2/Inkling song diary, this one covering the second half of Inkling.

Mystery Song

This 4-second song represents the pinnacle of my compositional efforts to date! And it's a fun moment of interaction between myself and Mr. Minnemann, and nicely punctuates the space between the ethereal ending of "Cram" and the startling introduction of…

E

Ever since hat. and Boil That Dust Speck I've enjoyed messing around with tiny little songs. For this project I made a bunch of them, merely two of which ended up on SB2 proper, resulting in a bumper crop for Inkling. This one has a link with "O" on SB2, quoting its ending piano part. So far we've got "M" (from Scambot 1),"O" and "E." Will Scambot 3 continue the trend?

The Scorpions

So titled, because Ophunji (by the end of Scambot 1) had The Scorpions (the band), along with members of Air Supply's touring group, chained up in his recording studio disguised as the Quiet Children. This song is an alternate version of "Salve-Dependent Scorpions" from The Scambot Holiday Special, with an entirely different guitar performance, some added keyboard parts, less saxophone, and a radically different mix. This new version is a whole other trip for sure, and I really love it  I'm happy with the guitar playing and with the highly attuned work of Messrs. Beller, Musallam and Travers. Suitable for loud crank-age in the car.

Skating Backwards

One time in the '90s I woke up in the middle of the night in a French hotel room, and the radio was playing some very eerie and bewitching organ music (I had fallen asleep with the radio on  it wasn't a supernatural radio occurrence). The piece went on for a long time. Ever since then I've had the desire to write a long-form organ piece (organ was my first instrument after all) in tribute to my memory of that night  which still hasn't happened, but "Skating Backwards" provides a sliver of an inkling of what one section of such a piece might sound something like. I really like the ending. I like the whole thing but I think the ending is especially neat.

Tom

So titled, because that is the name of the tiny red bug who shows up in the story every now and then. The first minute and 24 seconds was scored on paper without an instrument at hand, so it was fun to record the parts and hear how they sounded. The second part is a long blues progression, over which I challenged myself to play the most economical guitar solo I could. Later on I decorated the solo with synthesizer commentary  sometimes phrasing or harmonizing with the guitar, other times heading off into its own world. Part three is super atmospheric and chill, and extremely suitable for late night contemplation with headphones engaged.

Mayday!

As anti-news-media screeds go, this is pretty cute. I mainly did it in order to provoke a reaction from news addict Bryan Beller (he liked it!). I really enjoy the analog synth backdrop, made up of four tracks of edited Moog Voyager improvs (I drew from the same bank of recordings used for the comedy sketches on The Scambot Holiday Special). I love how weirdly expressive abstract synthesizer sounds can be  I use them here in kind of the same way Raymond Scott used electronic sounds to punctuate advertising copy. At the end of this track it used to go "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" for a lot longer, but I edited it down (it's still plenty long enough). I did this for you.

Lovesong

At one point this song had lyrics about Ophunji's crush on Karen Carpenter. I do have a working version of this song featuring Ophunji singing in his gnat-voice. You might want to hear it. I enjoy the weird turn the guitars take at the end of this track, and the hard cut to black.

Back It Up

"Three and say it!" and "Back it up! Y'all look so beautiful, buttercup," were part of a dream I had that made me wake up laughing. This song makes me very happy. If it didn't have a middle section in 11/8, I would ask all the world to dance to it with me.

Inkling

I knew I wanted to write a song called "Inkling"  I've known that for years, and have tried to write lyrics for one a few times. I came up with the basic track of this song years ago during the Court TV sessions, and for years I didn't realize that it was "Inkling," but during the Scambot 2 sessions I finally figured it out. I want to explore this melody further, and I'm considering coming up with a live arrangement for it. Maybe for the BFD tour next month? I'll take it up with the authorities, run it up the flagpole and see if anyone falls over when they look up at it.

Uncompressed Rag

Not unlike Sluggo!, this album ends with a jaunty little piano ditty. It was recorded immediately after I wrote it and I had only the most basic grasp of the piano part. Maybe that's a good thing? This one features Evan Francis' bold exhortations on clarinet. I love the way he dances around the chord changes.

And with the actual resolution into E Major that we've all been waiting for, Inkling saunters off into the sunset. Why not go back to the start of Scambot 2 and play both albums again? We all have time for that, right?

Thank you for hanging with me throughout this song diary  it's been extremely fun for me, and I really hope it's enhanced the album-listening experience for you.

And finally, I hope to see a bunch of you at the MK/BFD shows next month. Me, Bryan Beller and Joe Travers doing our thing, with the Travis Larson Band opening  it's going to be a good time for everyone!

Galangal!
Mike

Scambot 2 Factoids

We're currently shipping the 2-CD Scambot 2 signed and numbered limited edition of 2000. The double-CD set consists of the Scambot 2 album (65 minutes of music) and the Inkling album (48 minutes of music) in a colorful digi-pak, with two handsome booklets nestled within. You'll get an immediate download of Scambot 2 as soon as you pre-order. (You'll have to wait until your CD set arrives to hear Inkling, which, by the way, features the brilliant RICK MUSALLAM on the song "Cram"!!)

Scambot 2 itself is now available as a single-album paid download. (Inkling won't be available as a download - it's only available as part of the 2-CD set.)

Don't know if I already mentioned these videos, but here's The Muffin Men as recorded in April 2016, touring with Denny Walley, plus a snippet from their Zappanale concert.

You know, The Muffin Men,...Those lads who played their first Zappa tribute show in 1990 and who, in the meantime, have shared the stage with Jimmy Carl Black, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Ike Willis, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Mike Keneally, Ray White, Robert Martin, Denny Walley, and more recently with Ed Mann and Candy Zappa !
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april fools 2016 tour - part one

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april fools 2016 tour - part two

-Zappanale - July 2016 (25 years after their first Zappanale appearance !!)

MoonJune Records has just released "Pasar Klewer", an incredible 2 CD set by Indonesion pianist and composer Dwiki Dharmawan.
Next to bass player Yaron Stavi and percussionist Asaf Sirkis, who form the core trio with Dwiki Dharmawan, the album features an impressive list of contributors: Nicolas Meier, Mark Wingfield, Boris Savoldelli, the Jess Jegog Gamelan Orchestra,... Each one adding beautiful textures to the whole.

Most of the compositions are original tunes, but there's also a tune by Asas Sirkis, one by Benny Corda, and two times Robert Wyatt's 'Forest' (one with vocals and one instrumental version).
"Pasar Klewer" is an incredible album.
Modern jazz with an Indonesian flavour.

The next Residents album is entitled The Ghost of Hope and is slated for release in February of 2017. The album features guest collaborator Eric Drew Feldman - who has worked with everybody cool, so he's already in your record collection.

Two tracks from the album, "Rushing Like a Banshee" and "Train vs. Elephant" will be available on a limited 7" vinyl, suitable for inclusion in your Rock-Ola. The single is looking at a November release (in various editions) by Psychofon Records, and a regular black vinyl release will be distributed by MVD in December.

Here's (another) recent Adrian Belew album. Well, 'recent' as in 'from a couple of years ago'...

Adrian's "Dust" project started in 2007 when he offered various archive recordings, demos and alternate versions as a download-only album. At least four volumes got released.
But now we're talking 2014 when Adrian released a CD with archive recordings, demos and alternate versions. I haven't heard the previously mentioned download-only albums, but this CD is superb.
There's a lot of experimental solo stuff (guitar, fretless guitar, dobro, piano,...) but also a collaboration with Slagerij Van Kampen,
This is great !
It comes with a fine booklet that has lots of info on each track. Superb !

Project/Object is the longest continually touring alumni-based Zappa tribute band in the world. For over twenty years they have toured with more Zappa alumni than anyone other than Zappa himself. Their legendary tours of the USA, Canada, & Europe have paved the way for a rich variety of other excellent, contemporary Zappa tributes.

Project/Object is the band that brought most of the currently touring Zappa band alumni out of retirement and onto the road. Musicians from the first Mothers Of Invention album thru the last Zappa tour in 1988 have performed with Project/Object. The band is back in action in the fall of 2016 with a tour that reunites old friends Ike Willis & Don Preston. The setlist features material that each of them recorded with Frank, as well as Zappa classics from every era.

Ike Willis, voice of Joe’s Garage and Thingfish, handled lead vocals and rhythm guitar for virtually every Zappa Band tour and album from 1978 thru the final FZ tour of 1988. Ike's booming baritone is perhaps the most requested presence by Zappa fans worldwide.

Don Preston, a key member of the early Mothers Of Invention, joining for the classic second album Absolutely Free, and onto the legendary We’re Only In It For the Money thru Roxy & Elsewhere in 1974. Don is also well known as a synthesizer and jazz pioneer, playing with Nat “King” Cole and Herbie Mann. Don has also done many soundtracks including Apocalypse Now.

Monday, September 12, 2016

The German Psychofon Records label has recently impressed us with fine releases by Ostrich Von Nipple and by Randy Rose (lead singer of The Residents).
Next up at Psychofon is an adventurous release by Locust Fellow, entitled "Curse Of The Baleful Caller".

Actually, it's quite a daring concept. Mr. Locust Fellow has composed an album of music to the album's art. To be more precise, the project started by Poxodd making an album cover to which Locust Fellow composed the music.

Supported by kindred spirits Ostrich Von Nipple, Shitty Bedford, r0b0t and others, Locust Fellow did an excellent job.
"Curse Of The Baleful Caller" is the kind of album that completely absorbs you. Describing it as a mixture of psychedelic music and trance-soundscapes with tribal ritual rhythms just doesn't do it right.

This is music from the other side of the fence. "Curse Of The Baleful Caller" sounds like what the album cover looks like. Outsider art translated into music.I love it.

To be released on September 15.Available from Psychofon Records.
On vinyl.
Black and splatter vinyl available.Sound samples at the Psychofon Records website.
Check it out.

Getting a bunch of texts and emails and inquiries on this so.....YEAH it's true!!Ike Willis will indeed be sitting in with Dweezil Zappa's band for two shows in October!!October 12 Chicagoand the Halloween show in NYC

When I ordered Adrian Belew's recent "Flux" album, I also added a couple of other albums that I seemed to have missed or forgotten. One of them was called "Sixteen" and I think it was released in 2015.
The album presents 16 classic Belew songs (hence the title), remixed / reworked by engineer, producer and tech wizard Daniel Roland.
It sounds great !!

Spring 2016, Ike Willis teamed up with Zappatika to tour Holland, Germany and the UK. Different tracks from these concert were glued together into one big concert, into one big track.

Zap Mcinnes explains : "As we believe that any great album should be listened to in ONE sitting we are releasing this album as a single continuous file and it will NOT be available in individual tracks.
This applies to all Digital Stores like I-Tunes,Spotify etc and also to the physical CDs.
So if you need to take a pee or go to the shops then you'll just have to hit Pauze .....but try hang out for 75 minutes and get the whole thing !"

"The whole thing" as Zap calls it, is pretty impressive.
It's a great collection of songs, showcasing Ike Willis on vocals and on the guitar (!!).
Ike did a great job, the Zappatika lads were in great shape, and, last but not least, there's Jeff Hollie and Craig 'Twister' Steward as special guests.

Just take a look at the tracklist :

more trouble every day

broken hearts are for assholes

ms pinky

crew slut

zoot allures

magic fingers

the torture never stops

i'm the slime

filthy habits

a token of my extreme

watermelon in easter hay

why does it hurt when i pee?

outside now

This is a fine album. It sounds great as well. It's a very clear and well-mixed recording where you can actually hear every instrument!

"Welcome to the Starlight Lounge" should be released any day now.
And not just on iTunes and Spotify, but it should also be made available on CD.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Aki Takase and Alexander Von Schlippenbach.
The duo will be performing in my favourite jazz club in a couple of weeks.('De Singer' in Rijkevorsel, BE)
Wonder if they'll be performing Zappa's 'You Are What You Is'.
They used to perform it in the early ninetees and even released it on their "Piano Duets" album in 1995.

Adrian Belew has just released the first volume in his "Flux" series.
Forty-four snippets of music. Little pieces that vary in length from a handful of seconds to a couple of minutes. Some are soundscapes, others are little songs.
Meant to be played in random order, to be re-constructed every time it gets played.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Frank Zappa's "Hot Rats" album, you know, the one with the cover of Miss Christine in the swimming pool, has been re-issued on vinyl !

Continuing the reissues, FZ’s classic "Hot Rats" has been released on 180-gram vinyl - cut directly from the original analog master tapes by Bernie Grundman! Recorded in 1969, Zappa's second solo album is widely known for its pioneering fusion of jazz and rock and contains one of his best known songs,“Peaches En Regalia.” Mostly an instrumental album, sans “Willie The Pimp” which features Captain Beefheart’s craggy vocals, the six-song LP is filled with complex musical passages, breathtaking playing and some beautifully melodic moments.
Here's Fattore Zeta with one of my favourite "Hot Rats" tunes, 'Little Umbrellas' !!

Chicago, IL - New band ZAP has released a digital single called “Air Traffic Control” on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label. The band is made up of Emmy-nominated composer Sean McKee, who is also collaborating with Jon Anderson from YES on a concept album project, Ike Willis, the voice on numerous Frank Zappa albums, and Grammy-nominated bassist Chip Z'Nuff (Enuff Z'Nuff, Missing Persons, Adler's Appetite).

“Air Traffic Control” started as a 60 second piece that was commissioned by Lee Abrams (Co-Founder of XM Radio) to have McKee write a piece of music in the style of Frank Zappa, and produce a video to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his passing. McKee wrote and performed all instruments, including recording the keyboard parts using a then-prototype Lineage MIDI guitar from Inspired Instruments.

Besides being a musician, McKee is known as a pioneer in the field of image processing, creating technology used for new movies and classic film restorations, along with 2D to 3D conversions, with the technology he led development on being used daily in Hollywood. For several years, one of his clients was Gail Zappa, Frank's widow, and he worked on restoring film elements from Frank's archive, and also helped to recover lost video masters that Gail hadn't seen in years.

According to McKee, “When I heard the news of Gail's passing last October, I was deeply saddened, she was very kind to me, and an incredibly smart woman who pioneered the concept of artists' retaining the rights to the master recordings. I decided to take the 60 second piece and finish it as a proper song, as a memorial to Gail and tribute to Frank, who was a big influence on my playing.”

McKee crafted the song starting from the existing 60 second guitar solo, building a complete song around it, similar to methods Zappa incorporated. He then asked Ike Willis to sing on the track and add another guitar solo. Die hard Zappa fans will also notice a lyrical reference to the infamous 'White Zone'.

McKee continues, “The original solo I wrote is what ends the song, and Ike takes the first guitar solo. If you close your eyes, you can see Frank and hear the lineage. When Frank got sick, he asked Ike to carry on his music, and while this is a new, original song, his playing and voice carries the torch for both the legacy fans as well as a new generation of listeners.”

McKee then asked Chip Z'Nuff to play bass on all parts except for the bass under the solos, which McKee had recorded originally.

The end result is a modern interpretation and homage to a timeless and unique style.

Dave Brock and the Agents of Chaos - Armada Rock Festival Banstaple 30/07/1988Line up:Brock, Bainbridge, Richards, Mills, Hardey, Bannister, Copeland and KelsallThe overachieving Dave Brock went out with members of the Hawks and Tubilah Dog in 88/89 and played some dates as AOC (sometimes referred to as 'Hawkdog'). The set consisted of a mixture of Hawks, Dog and other covers. This is a pretty decent recording and includes Zappa's 'City of Tiny Lights' and Floyds 'Lucifer Sam'. Included in the band is of course Hawk in the making Jerry Richards. The band sound a little under rehearsed, but clearly all involved are having a great time!Many thanks to Captain Deli for the upload.
Uploaded 26/02/2010